Controller of Estate Duty, Madras v. C. R. Ramachandra Gounder

JAGANMOHAN REDDY, J.-This appeal is by certificate against the judgment of the Tamil Nadu High Court. which has answered the following two questions referred to ii, in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue : (1 ) Whether on the facts and in the circumstances ol 1he case the Tribunal was right in law in kolding that the house property in Avanashi Road. Coimbatore, is not liable to estate duty as property deemed lo pass on the death of the de­ ceased under section 10 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 ? (2) Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in law in hold­ ing that the sum of Rs. 1 la~ gifted by the H deceased to his sons in 1953 is not liable to estate duty as property deemed 10 pass on the death of the deceased under section 1 O of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 ? \ 5Se SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1973] 3 s.c.1; These questions arose on the facts set out in the statement of tl\o cas.e which are : one Ramaiah Gounder was a partner in the fum called N. Desai Gounder & Co., Coimbatore. He owned property which the firm was occupying as tenant-at-will. In August 1953, he executed a deed of settlement under which he transferred t4e property leased out to the firm to his two sons Lingish and Krishnan, absolutely and irrevocably. After this transfer, the firm continued to be in occupation of the premises paying rent thereof at Rs. 300/- p.m. to the two donees by crediting each of their accounts in the account books of the firm in equal shares. It may be mentioned that Ramaiah the father continued to be ll partner of the firm even after the transfer till April 13, 1957, when the firm was dissolved. He had also an account with the firm Desai Gounder & Co., and on March 30, 1953, he requested the firm by a letter to transfer from his account five sums of Rs. 20,000/- each with effect from Aprill, 1953 to the credit of his five sons in the firm's books. He also wrote to the five sons informing them of the transfer.. Though the sons did not withdrl!VI'. any amount from their accounts in the firm, the amounts continued to be invested in the firm for.which interest at 7t% per annum was paid to them. On the death of. Ramaiah Gounder on May 5, l957, the Assis· tant Controller of Estate Duty, included in the estate of the de· ceased, the property leased out to the firm which was transfelT!'ll to his two sons. According to him, possession and enjoyment of the subject-matter of the gift had not been assumed by the donees mor had they retained possession thereof to the entire exclusion of the donor, inasmuch as the partnership in which the donor was a partner with other parties, continued to be in possession and en­ joyment of the gifted property as tenants at will of the donees. With respect to the gift of Rs. 1 lakh to the five sons of the d.,_ ceased, the Assistant Controller held that the qonees had not be!;n in possession and enjoyment of the subject-matter of the gift to the entire exclusion of the donor within tb_e meanil)g of s. 10 of the Estate Duty Act. He, therefore, included tl)is sum of. Rs. 1 lakh in the principal value of the est«. of the c;!eceased. The accountable persons aeJ?ealed to the Appellate Controller who confirmed the said inclusion. The Tribunal on a further appeal, however, disagreed with the findings of."tne· Assistant Con­ troller and the Appellate Controller. It hel<i that the firm, of which. the d.eceased was a: partnec, occupied the property but thirt such interest was not as owner of the property, and therefore, the gift ha.d b~ made without the ~nor retaining a,ny interest, as much it could 1not be inchided in the estate ot the deceased under s. 1 O of the Estate Duty Act. · It f.ur:lber hp!\{ t®t the sum of Rs. 1 lakh gifted to the sons was givc;a by t\le sons to the firm {) C'.ONTROLLER ESTATE DUTY v. RAMACHANDRA 5 57 (Jaganmohan Reddy, J.) which had benefit of the money and that the fa1her could not be said to have enjoyed the benefit of the money as partner of the firm. In this view, the Tribunal excluded the sum of Rs. 3 lakh from the esfate of the deceased. The High Court agreed with these findings. It is contended before us by the learned Advocate for the Re­ venue that both the Tribunal and the High Court were in error in holding that the property as well as the sum of Rs. 1 lakh were enjoyed by the donees to the exclusion of the donor or that the . deceased did not derive blenefit therefrom within the meaning of s. 10 of the Estate Duty Act, because, firstly, the donor was a partner in the firm which had occupied the property as tenants-at­ will even after the gift, and secondly, the amount of Rs. 1 lakh, though entered in each of the accounts of the donor's five sons in the books of the firm, w!ls not utilised or enjoyed by them in any manner. Section 10 of the Estate Duty Act, as in .force on the date of the death of the deceased, was as follows : "IO. Property taken under any gift, whenever made, shall be deemed to pass on the donor's dea'th to the extent that bona fide possession and enjoyment of it was not immediately assumed by the donee and thenceforward retained to the entire exclusion of rthe donor of any bene­ fit to him by contract or otherwise; "Provided that the property shall not be deemed to pass by reason only that it was not, as from the date of the gift, exclusively retained as aforesaid, if, by means of the surrender of the reserved benefit or otherwise, it is subsequently enjoyed to the entire exclusion of the donor or of any !Jkonefit to him for at least two years before the death : .......... " The crux of the above section as pointed out by this Court in George Da Costa v. Controller of Estate Duly, Mysore,(') lies in two parts : ( 1) the donee must bona fide have assumed possession· and. enjoyment of the property which is rthe subject-matter of the· gift to the exclusion of the donor, immediljtely upon the gift; and (2) the donee must have reta.ined such possession ·and enjoywenl of the property to the entire exclusion of the donor or of any bene­ fit to him by contract or otherwise. Boll) these COl)ditions are cumulative. Unle.ss each of these conditions is satisfied, the pro­ perty would be liable to estate du.ty unqer s. 10 of the Act. The second part of the section has two llmbs: ti)e deceased must be eriti~ly. excluded (i) f;om th~ property, and (ii) from ~ny ~! by contract or ot!Jerw1se. The words "by contra~! or otherwise' ii)' th~ second limb! of the section will not control the, words ''tv ·(!.) 63 I.T.R,. 497, at p. SOI. the entire exclusion of the donor" in the firs't limb. The first limb may be infringed if the doillor occupies or enjoys the property or its income, .even though he has no right to do so which he could legally enforce against 'the donee. In other words, in. order to attract the section, it is not necessary that the possess10n of the donor of the gift mus't be referable to some contractual or other arra'!lgement enforceable in law or in equity. In the conte.xt of the section, the word "otherwise" should be construed ejusdem generis and it must be ill'terpreted to mean some kind of legal obligation or some transaction enforceable at law or in equity, which, though not in the forni of a contract, may confer a benefit on the donor. There is no doubt on the facts of this case, the first two condi­ tions are satisfied because there is an unequivocal transfer of the property and also of the money, in the Oille case 1jy a settlement deed, and in the other by crediting the amount of Rs. 20,000/- in each of the sons' account with the firm which thenceforward became liable to the sons for the payment of the said amount and ·the interest at 7t% per annum thereon. In these circumstances, the Revenue has failed to establish that the donees had not retained possession and enjoyment of the property or the amount and that the deceased was not entirely excluded from the possession and enjoyment thereof. The last limb of the condition relating to any benefit to the donor by contract or otherwise is inapplicable in this case. The donor on the date when he gifted the property to his sons which was leased out to the firm, had two rights, namely, of ownership in the property and the right to terminate the tenancy and obtain the possession thereof. There is no dispute that the ownership has been transferred subject to the tenancy at will grant­ ed to the firm, to the donor's two sons because 1he firm from thence­ forward had attorned to the donees as their tenant by crediting the rent of Rs. 300/. to the respective accounts in equal moity. The donor could, therefore, only transfer possession of the property which the nature of that property was capable of, which in this case is subject to the tenancy. He could do nothing else to trans­ fer the pc-ssession in any other manner unless he was required to effectuate 'the gift for the purpose of s. 10 of the Act by getting the firm to vacate the premises and lianding-0ver possession of the same to the donees· leaving the donees thereafter to lease it out to the firm. Even then the objection of the learned Advocate· that since the donor was a partner in the firm which had taken the pro­ perty on lease, he derived benefit therefrom and was, therefore, not entirely excluded from the possession and enjoyment thereof, will neverthel.ess remaiin unsatisfied. To get over such an objection, t~e donees will have to lease out the property after getting posses­ sion from the firm to some other person totally unconnected with the donor. Such an unreasonable requirement the law does not CONTROLLER ESTATE DUTY v. RAMACHANDRA 559 (Jaganmohan Reddy, J.) postulate. The possession which the donor can give is the legal possession which the circumstances and 1the nature of the property would admit. 1his he has given. The benefit the donor had as a member of the partnership, was not a benefit referable in any way to the gift but is uncon.ne()!ed therewith. The Privy Council in Munro and others v. Commissioner of Stamp Duties(') was dealing .with a case oi a similar nature. The donor in that case by six registered transfers in the form prescribed, transferred by way of gift all his right, title and interest in portions of the land . to each of his four sons and .to trustees for each ol' his two daughters and their children. The four sons and the two daughters were, prier to this transfer, on a verbal agreement with the donor, treitted as partners of the busi.ness carried on by him as grazier of the land owned by him. The evidence showed that 1the transfers were taken subject to the partnership agreement and on the understanding that any partner could withd~aw and work his land separately. On an analogous provision of the law, the Privy Council thought it un­ necessary to determine the precise nature oi the right of the part­ nership at the time of the transfers because it was either a tenancy during the term of the partnership or a licence coupled with an interest. Lord Tomlin, giving his opinion, observed at p. 67, that "the benefit which the donor had as a member of the partnership in the right to which the gift was subject was not in their Lordships' opinion a benefit referable bn any way to the gift". This decision was referred to and distinguished in O/ifford John Chick ant! another v. Commissioner of Stamp Duties('), and though it was. considered to have no application to the case at point, Viscount Simonds ot~erved at p. 97 : "It must often be a matter of fine distinction "'hat is the subject-matter of gift. If, as in Munro's case, the gift is of a property shorn of certain of the rights which appertain to complete ownership, the donor cannot, merely because 'le remains in possession and enjoyment of those rights, be said within the meaning of the section not to be excluded from posses­ sion and enjoyment of that which he has given." In the Com­ missioner of Stamp Duties of New Sov/h Wales v. Perpetual Trustee Company Limited(') .. the Privy Council further elaborated the concept of the nature of possession required to be given to the donee as not to attract the analogous provisions of the Common­ wealth Act. Lord Russel of Kill ow en observed at p. 440 : "The linking of possession with enjoyment as a com - posite object which has to be assumed by tile donee indi­ cate·. •hat the possession and enjoyment contemplated is ben~,.dal possession and enjoyment by the object of the donor's bounty ................ because the son was (through the medium of the trustees) immediately put (I) [1934] A.C. 61. (2) 37 l.T.R. [E.D.] 89 (3) 560 S'JPREME COURT REPORTS [1973] 3 S.C.R. in such bona fide beneficial possession and enjoyment of the property comprised in the gift as the nature of the gift and the circumstances permitted. Did he assume it, and thenceforth retain it to the· entire exclusion of the donor ? The answer, itheir Lordships think, must be in the affirmative, and for two reasons : ( 1) the settlor had no enjoyment and possession and enjoyment as he had from the .fact that the legal ownership of the shares ve~ted in him and his co-trustees as joint tenants, was had by him solely on behalf of the dooee. In his capacity as don6r he was entirely excluded from possession and enjoyment of whai he had given to his son. Did the donee retain possession and enjoyment to the entire ex­ clusion of anv benefit to the settlor of whatever kind or in any way whatsoever ? Clearly yes." . The views expressed by the Privy Council are in complete accord with our views already expressed. This was also the view held in Controller of Estate Duty, Mysore v. S. Aswathanarayana &tty and another('), where a Bench of the Mysore High Court consi­ dered both the case of Olifjord John Chick and of . Munro above referred to. In that case, on June 30, 1954, the deceased transferred to his two sons Rs. 57,594 l:\feing half of the share standing to his credit as on that date in the books of a firm in which he was a partner and from July 1, 1954, the sons were also taken as partners in the firm. On the death of the deceased on November 16, 1957, the Assistant Controller held that the amount transferred to the sons must be deemed to pass as per the provisions of s. 10 of the Estate Ducy Act, which decision was confirmed by the Appel­ late Controller. The Tribunal, however, held that the sum which subsequently was rectified to be Rs. 73,695 was not so· includible. One of us (Hegde, J., as he then was), speaking for the Bench, · <>bserved at p. 32 : "On the .facts of the case, it cannot be said that, after the gifts, the donees did not retain the property ~ifted to the entire exclusion of the donor or that the donor had any benefit either by contract or otherwise in the· pro­ perty gifted. That in order· that the property could deem fo pass and estate duty could be leviaWe in such cases, the benefit of the donor must be a benefit referable to his own property. The view, that if it is once found ithat the deceased had some benefit in the property, that in itself was sufficient to bring the case wit!Jjn the ambiJ of section 10 imspective of the question whe>ther that benefit was referable or not referable to the gift, in our opinion, is erroneous." (1) 72 l.T.R. 29 CONTROLLER ESTATE DUTY v. RAMACHANDRA 561 (Jaganmohan Reddy, J.) In our view, neither the property gifted to the donees, nor the amount of Rs. 1 lakh gifted to the five sons, could be included in the estate of the deceased. The appeal is accordingly dismissed with costs. V.P.S. Appeal dismissed.